Do you have a theme?

[SheepMareep]

So we are now over a month into ACNH and I've seen a lot of people on twitter using themes such as "cottagecore" and "fairycore" to guide how they design their islands.

With how popular these two seem to be, I was wondering if anyone here uses them or any other kind of theme to guide their design process. If so what does it look like to you and why did you decide to use that particular theme?

Personally i started up a madoka magica theme! I have always loved the anime and the art style just takes my breath away. It is a very chaotic style to attempt in animal crossing and will take me a long time, but that's the fun! Especially since I havent come across any other islands attempting this and dont have any other ideas to go off of. It's very fun to experiment different designs!

 

[Catto]

I am trying to make mine autumn themed, sadly I think it’s going to look terrible the other 3 seasons ^^; but I love autumn so much and since the season just started in the Southern Hemisphere I though it was now or never.

 

[baobei]

oo that’s an interesting and definitely unique theme! i’d love to see how you’re going to integrate that into animal crossing (fingers cross for new furniture sets/nook miles items in the future!)

i’m going for an overall sailor moon/galaxy and stars/white theme! half of my island is filled with celeste items haha ;;

 

[reallylovesquids]

i'm going for an island inspired by whisper of the heart! it's my favorite ghibli movie and i'm determined to make my island feel as homey as the movie does haha

 

[Red Cat]

My current theme is prairie. My island has a lot of grass with nothing on it right now. In the future, I plan on having a foresty / mountainy island, but I'm still planning the details.

 

[SheepMareep]

I am trying to make mine autumn themed, sadly I think it’s going to look terrible the other 3 seasons ^^; but I love autumn so much and since the season just started in the Southern Hemisphere I though it was now or never.

I think you'll find a way to make it work!!! The only season I can really see it being difficult would be winter and maybe sakura season. But other than that the oranges/yellows/red/browns should still transfer over nicely in the spring and summer.

oo that’s an interesting and definitely unique theme! i’d love to see how you’re going to integrate that into animal crossing (fingers cross for new furniture sets/nook miles items in the future!)

i’m going for an overall sailor moon/galaxy and stars/white theme! half of my island is filled with celeste items haha ;;

Oooo!!! That sounds like it will be really pretty!!! I cant wait to see the final product. I think the majority of my outdoor items are actually the moon items lmao so I am in a similar boat

 

[voltairenism]

uuhhhhh I like the theme of your island! I am yet to see the whole anime, but I get the aesthetic! Do you have an whishlist so I can see if I can help with something?
Mine is medieval themed. It's also not very original, but it is really fun. I thought I was done with mine, but yesterday I got the idea to terraform the heck out of it to make my residental area look like the hobbit's village from LOOR. I wont put this game down any time soon oof

 

[Loubelle]

I don't really have theme picked for mine, I think I just plan to decorate using furniture and flowers that i like :3 One of my friends is doing a japanese-style theme and it looks really nice c:

 

[SheepMareep]

uuhhhhh I like the theme of your island! I am yet to see the whole anime, but I get the aesthetic! Do you have an whishlist so I can see if I can help with something?
Mine is medieval themed. It's also not very original, but it is really fun. I thought I was done with mine, but yesterday I got the idea to terraform the heck out of it to make my residental area look like the hobbit's village from LOOR. I wont put this game down any time soon oof

Aww ty!!! I dont have a wishlist just yet as I'm still waiting on more furniture to be added into the game. Sadly I made the witch from the 3red episode, paid off her entire house, then realized we have 0 sweets furniture yet
A lot of my areas also require certain types of furniture not in the game atm so... yeah. Theres a lot of faith in nintendo to add more furniture in order to get this working

&& that sounds awesome!!!! I love the way they designed the hobbit houses for lotr, excited to see how it looks when you're all done and get it decorated!!!! I'm sure theyll add some really cool medieval items at some point and you'll get even more cool ideas.

 

[Maiana]

I really really wanted a planned out, well thought theme, but I didn't go for it.
I know this is the same for a few others, but looking at nice-looking, well-developed islands makes me feel so bad. I always get so discouraged with mine and it makes me want to quit everything I did and redo everything. such a toxic mindset i'm sorry
I wanted to base my island off of Wall-E and make it kind of waste-landish! Even now, I still think it is a super cute idea, so if I ever get my hands on a switch lite, I'll be recreating it.

Main town wise, I'm doing everything on impulse. Besides my houses, nothing is planned. But I would consider my town to have a more nighttime based theme~ So i'm sticking within that category and all my hybrids are blues, purples, and blacks.
Also so excited to see how your town turns out! I love PMMM,, the opening from that anime still leaves shook to this day.

 

[petaI]

not sure how to describe the aesthetic but i guess it's kind of foresty/tropical with some elegant elements

 

[Hedgehugs]

Initially my island is Sonic-themed but honestly I veered from that path alittle and it looks more like a general forest/woods/tropical island now.

If I ever reset/get another switch I wanna make a pastel/pink themed town. With only pink villagers (Pinky gets in first because obviously) in it. That'd be cute.

 

[SheepMareep]

I really really wanted a planned out, well thought theme, but I didn't go for it.
I know this is the same for a few others, but looking at nice-looking, well-developed islands makes me feel so bad. I always get so discouraged with mine and it makes me want to quit everything I did and redo everything. such a toxic mindset i'm sorry
I wanted to base my island off of Wall-E and make it kind of waste-landish! Even now, I still think it is a super cute idea, so if I ever get my hands on a switch lite, I'll be recreating it.

Main town wise, I'm doing everything on impulse. Besides my houses, nothing is planned. But I would consider my town to have a more nighttime based theme~ So i'm sticking within that category and all my hybrids are blues, purples, and blacks.
Also so excited to see how your town turns out! I love PMMM,, the opening from that anime still leaves shook to this day.

I felt this on such a strong level. At first I scrapped my theme idea and tried to go more natural because... everyone had such AMAZING towns and I could never get there ykno? It's a really common mindset when you're just starting the game and already people have fully terraformed areas with all these complicated paths and water ways like... how do they even manage it?
The only advice I have is to stop looking at other people's towns that make you feel this way. Seeing the journals on here REALLY inspired me to pick up my initial idea because... everyone is making their way slowly towards their goal. You get to see the ugly parts as they make them into something beautiful and knowing they didnt just figure it out right away personally gave me the energy I needed to be like. Hey. At least try ykno?

But! I absolutely love the nighttime idea you have. There are so many ways to take that and I'm excited to see what you come up with! Luckily the game has a lot of space and calming items you can use and I'm sure you'll create very beautiful areas. If you do the wall-e one definitley keep me posted because that also sounds amazing.

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

Initially my island is Sonic-themed but honestly I veered from that path alittle and it looks more like a general forest/woods/tropical island now.

If I ever reset/get another switch I wanna make a pastel/pink themed town. With only pink villagers (Pinky gets in first because obviously) in it. That'd be cute.

Sonic has some cool tropical maps so I say it still matches just gotta splatter some rings everywhere to make it look like he got hit lol!
My boyfriend actually loves sonic and dresses his character up as him (blue frog costume, red sneakers, and he already had the blue dreads so lol) so this theme made me smile I love it

 

[voltairenism]

Aww ty!!! I dont have a wishlist just yet as I'm still waiting on more furniture to be added into the game. Sadly I made the witch from the 3red episode, paid off her entire house, then realized we have 0 sweets furniture yet
A lot of my areas also require certain types of furniture not in the game atm so... yeah. Theres a lot of faith in nintendo to add more furniture in order to get this working

&& that sounds awesome!!!! I love the way they designed the hobbit houses for lotr, excited to see how it looks when you're all done and get it decorated!!!! I'm sure theyll add some really cool medieval items at some point and you'll get even more cool ideas.

Thank you! Actually, there is so much furniture that really fits the theme! But I am waiting some creepy stuff to put on my house, which is like a vampire castle haha
Oh god this episode. Yeah...
I think some birthday furniture would look cool. Also some custom designs on the walls that looks very trippy. There are like these cardboard trees stands. And a simple panel you can put customs designs
Also, Hypno KK playing at the background.

 

[Clock]

Just a town theme in my island with some forests and a cafe. I can’t really think of anything else, however it’s still a part of my plan.

 

[thatveryawkwardmayor]

forest/woodland island! i want to make it as natural as possible even tho im like 0% complete with it

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

My theme is "whatever looks good to me in the moment" or I guess if we are going by what it looks like right now, perhaps "cluttered trash heap" would be more accurate.

 

[Maiana]

I wholeheartedly agree. A twitch streamer I watch always says "You are your biggest critic." and it really hit home for me. I thought to myself about how I may not like my island, but there are a lot of people who think it's gorgeous and unique.
I knew if I had a theme and something looked similar or not as good as someone else's island with the same theme, I would go ballistic. I know it shouldn't be that serious lol, but I really want(ed) to pour my heart and soul out into something everyone else would like. I had to take that step back and be like, "Are you doing this for others to like it? Or are you doing it for yourself?" And I was definitely the first phrase.
That's why I decided I wouldn't plan anything besides my houses because I knew I would stress myself out and try to make a beautiful island others would like (instead of putting my own feelings first, tragic)

And I'll definitely keep you posted on that wasteland/Wall-E theme. I really loved the idea of it and even if I don't end up doing it, I hope someone else thinks of it and implements it into their town! ;o;

 

[softhime]

so many lovely ideas. ;; i’m still not exactly sure how i want my island to look. i’m thinking maybe foresty, so lots of trees and flowers. and i also want to make use of the cute mushroom lamps, because those look gorgeous at night! if i’m 100% sure going for this theme it’s not very original, since many have this kind of theme, but it’s cute. right now my island is still very plain for the biggest part and i made my map look very minimalistic, i have no idea how people manage to make those cool complicated waterways.. :,)

i’ve seen so many screenshots on twitter of people their islands and it kind of discourages me sometimes, because i feel like i could never make my island look as gorgeous as those rip

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

I had to take that step back and be like, "Are you doing this for others to like it? Or are you doing it for yourself?" And I was definitely the first phrase.
That's why I decided I wouldn't plan anything besides my houses because I knew I would stress myself out and try to make a beautiful island others would like (instead of putting my own feelings first, tragic)

this is actually such a good reminder it’s definitely more important to create an island you like and not worry about whether others will find it beautiful too

 

[seularin]

i've been island hopping looking for inspiration while watching island tours !! i really want to achieve that "fairy-garden" type of island since i find it really pretty, but i also really want a japanese-based island considering my heritage and it would make me feel at home. for now, my island shall remain a cluttered mess !!

Post automatically merged: May 2, 2020

and i realize i've been spending my nook miles & bells on cataloging and shopping instead of using that money on moving the structures and houses i desperately want moved, so.. oopsies !!